Decorated articles, e.g. jewelry including necklaces, pendants and rings, watch and clock faces, cuff links and the like are typically manufactured to include decorative designs by the following processes: painting, glazing, enameling, firing, inlaying, cloisonne, screening, engine turning, and engraving.
In these processes however, it is very difficult to form complex and intricate graphic art image designs on the substrate, which, for jewelry, for example, could be a piece of sapphire. Since an individual artist must typically transfer a particular graphic art image to the substrate, it is also very difficult in these processes to attain uniform and repeatable products of high quality. Painting, glazing, enameling, firing, inlay, and cloisonne methods depend on human dexterity and therefore are limited in the degree of detailing and complexity that may be accomplished in a particular decorative article. As explained above, repeatability and uniformity is also a concern: therefore, production quantities and product uniformity control are severely limited. Traditional screening overcomes some of these obstacles to a degree, but it has the physical limitation of individual geometry features having a minimum size of about 0.005-0.010 inch. Screening is also severely limited in the kinds of materials that may be used. Engine turning and engraving which add/or remove the material of the substrate in certain areas are also limited to the types of materials that may be used. Expensive tooling is required in these processes, and they are physically limited in feature size and materials. Moreover, all of these methodologies require significant expenditures of man hours thus raising the price of decorative articles containing intricately detailed and complex graphic art images.